500.C/1044: Telegram
The Consul General at Geneva (Tittmann) to the Secretary of State
[Received 5:12 p.m.]
165. Lester, the Deputy Secretary General, has now assumed complete charge of the administration of the League of Nations as the result of the resignation of the Secretary General which became effective August 31. Avenol therefore has no further connection whatsoever with the League and has merely been given an office in the Library in order that he may wind up his personal affairs. Lester told me this morning that sufficient funds are available to carry on until the end of this year but that thereafter the financial situation is problematical. A budget for 1941 has been prepared and it is now necessary from a legal point of view to find some way to have it approved according to the constitution. Lester still hopes that it will be possible to hold a meeting of the supervisory body in Lisbon for this purpose but if that falls through approval might yet be effected through obtaining the approval of the individual members of the body for submission to the member states. Lester tells me very definitely that it is his intention to keep League of Nations Covenant in being and that insofar as he is concerned liquidation would only take place on the initiative of the member states.